Thursday, June 23, 2011

Image Problem: Appealing for Appeal

Further to yesterday's post, one commenter had the following to say:

Anonymous said...

You say "hipster" way too much, get over it for fucks sake.

June 23, 2011 6:01 AM

You know, it's just this sort of attitude that has given hipsters the image problems from which they're now suffering. If instead of denying their own hipsterdom and telling people to leave them alone like surly teenagers "foffing off" in their bedrooms, hipsters were to unite and work to overcome the public's perception of them, I daresay they might become respected and valued members of society. I'd recommend they start with a massive PR campaign aimed at the working class, and it could go something like this:

As for the campaign's slogan, I'm thinking something simple and catchy along the lines of "Hipsters: Like Real People, Only More Expensive."

Granted, the guy in the second picture is less of a hipster than he is just a generic Best Made Co. douche, but this is just a hasty mock-up, and I'm confident that the hipster community can harness its considerable graphic design skills to really nail it.

The truth is there's no use denying hipsters exist, and there's also no use denying that they make people angry. Frankly, I wouldn't be worried about it at all if it didn't have a direct effect on cycling--but it does, for here in New York City, anti-cycling forces have exploited people's hatred of hipsters by portraying all cyclists as nothing more than crazed brakeless fixie-riding scofflaw transplants. So for this reason alone I'd like to see them subvert this by working to gain people's goodwill.

In fact, the problem has gotten so bad that the Forces of Smugness have had to work overtime to dispel the myth that all cyclists in New York City are heedless hipsters. To this end, Streetfilms (a smugness subsidiary of Streetsblog) has been "dropping" a series of "edits" featuring complete and utter anti-hipsters. Sure, this may be a bit like dropping a bunch of golf balls on the BP oil spill given the sheer volume of moronic alleycat and hillbombing "edits" out there, but I suppose it's a start, and the impressive cast of anti-hipsters they've assembled so far includes a fashion-neutral dad:

Though even Streetfilms can't whitewash the reality of hipster cycling, for at 1:14 our hero is the victim of a violent Cat 6 attack:

Then there's the older woman undaunted by age or maniac drivers:

"We didn't have phones when I was very young, and my friends didn't have a phone," explains Lucette Gilbert, "so if you wanted to speak to your friend, you had to bike over to their house."

See, now people talk on their phones while riding, but back then people had to ride their bikes in order to talk at all. Plus, while the young and entitled complain about cars parking in bike lanes and pick fights with the cops, Ms. Gilbert just rides around them:

Clearly the "bike culture" could do with a little less smugness and a little more good old-fashioned "You know, when I was your age..." senior shaming.

Not only that, but Streetfilms also turns the high-pressure hose on the bike-haters by featuring a firefighter:

Firefighters are the polar opposite of hipsters in that they are as universally revered and respected in New York City as the hipster is reviled. Therefore, using a firefighter in a pro-cycling video is like using a child as a human shield in a gunfight. By the way, I couldn't help but notice this guy:

Streetfilms clearly have the most profoundly smug "B-roll" archive of any film production entity in the world. "Hey, I'm editing the firefighter video. Do we have a shot of a guy in a safety vest carrying his compost and his children in the same container?" Of course they do.

In it, the writer asserts that a big part of the reason women don't ride for transportation as much as men is that they can't afford to:

Bicycling is, in much of the car-centric U.S., either a privilege or a punishment. That's why more women aren't bicycling. It isn't because we're fearful and vain; it's because we're busy and broke and our transportation system isn't set up for us to do anything but drive.

Most noticeable is a new flared top tube, dubbed the "Cobra", which ends in a bulbous tapered head tube...

Wow. And don't be afraid to push on it, ladies, it won't break:

"The head tube looks cool, but it does serve a purpose by preventing local deflection," said Specialized engineer Kyle Chubbuck. "When you push on the top of an eggshell you can't break it, and that's what's going on with the dome head tube."

So to recap: This bike has a top tube called the "Cobra" with a bulbous head and designed by a man named Chubbuck. Available now at your "LBS:"

Or shipped discreetly to your door in plain packaging.

Speaking of brown paper bags, the photo below was forwarded to me by a reader, and I might wear a brown paper bag over my head if this bike belonged to me:

"Specialized launched a new and improved S-Works Amira road bike in the mountainous northern region surrounding the city of Bilbao, Spain. The high-performance, women's-specific machine features two key improvements: increased stiffness and decreased weight."

Are new bicycles EVER touted as having improvements in any other area?!

I have to wonder if the target demographic for the ax holster set is really the fixie/tattoo set. I agree with the opening quote, I'm sure there's a lot of stupid consumerism in New York that's not hipster related. you DO use the word too much.

People that buy super fancy race bikes for a lot of money and then make the shop retro-fit the thing into a commuter are a bigger negative on the industry. The industry sees money signs and cater to them.

I have to wonder if the target demographic for the ax holster set is really the fixie/tattoo set. I agree with the opening quote, I'm sure there's a lot of stupid consumerism in New York that's not hipster related. you DO use the word too much.

People that buy super fancy race bikes for a lot of money and then make the shop retro-fit the thing into a commuter are a bigger negative on the industry. The industry sees money signs and cater to them.

Love it! Bike culture is crazy and they can charge whatever they want. Hipsters are people too, but more expensive is the same as: "Its a cycling tan, not a farmer's tan. more expensive". You should see all of the exotic carbon TT bikes that are turned into fixies here in San Diego. Keep it up! Love the read.

I'm thinking that the Generic Best Made Co. Douche in the red shirt is somehow equivalent to the expendable red shirt wearing crew members in Star Trek. Except they had lasers and all he's got is a pretty axe. He doesn't stand a chance.

That full out carbon race bike with the riser stem/bars and $2 petals is quite possibly the most snobish thing I've ever seen. And for Christ's sake, couldn't they have dropped more than $4 on the lock for that $6000 bike?

The reason why women and the bicycle industry are at odds can be best summed up in these two statements, courtesy of my wife:

"Why did you buy another ______? Don't you already have a ______?"

However, after a lot of schooling and some pressure applied to certain regions of her body, she now has two bicycles. What's more, the second one was purchased at her request! A pure act of her own personal desire and not mine or mine for her!

That was me who left the 'hipster' comment, quoted at the start of today's blog. I like this blog but your tendency to harp on and on about these people is grating. Granted (mercifully) I dont live in America so I dont see them, or particularly understand why you're so obsessed by them, however its like a skipping record sometimes. But at least you are not talking much about minimalism recently. I nearly de-RSS'd you after that.

Actually, "$2 petal" is a reference to the birth of the hybricarbon movement that has sprung forth in sociopolitical circles of the English major. eg, "The petals opened to reveal the hybricarbon commuter bike in all its glory. But alas, the English major had forgotten his copy of Pavlov's Dog and had to return to his hole, relinquishing the hybricarbon forever."

Actually, there's no agreed spelling standard or convention when it comes to the graphic representation of 'mmm's and 'hmm's and similar expressions.The OED suggests that a minimum of two [m]s conforms to graphemic expectations for most speakers, and that more than four would be somewhat unusual.Consequently, I would assert that my 'hmmmm' is well within the boundaries of current practice.

Love the pro hipster ads, Snob; Very funny. And I can't hear enough about them; I'm a volunteer in a bike co-op, and see lots of them. There I can't say rude things; but you just say them for me instead.

=v= Dude, it used to be that there were fixies and there were hipsters, and any overlap was rightly viewed as coincidence. Seems to me that this blog is the main cultural force that welded the two of them together in the public mind. Step up and take some responsibilty (along with whatever kudos) for it.

The "smug" stuff is also getting old (South Park did it 5 years ago, after all), but I admit I still guffaw over the fakerjack stuff. Ain't none of us perfect.

I need advice.We live in Durango Colorado and our son will be attending Bard as a freshman in August.As Durango is often voted the worst dressed town in the US, can you tell me what he should wear in Annandale?If that does not take too much of your time, will he be allowed to bring my old Trek 970, complete with 9 speeds, on campus?

I think Snobby will get over "hipster" as soon as certain people stop trying to speak for all of cycling on all cycling issues. Pardon me, but when an easily classified group of people start opening their mouth on an issue that greatly concerns me, start fucking up the message, and make me look like an ass, I'm going to ride them like a beater mountain bike while in a bad mood. David Byrne goes squarely into the same pile of people. No one calls him a hipster, and no one is lamenting "Get over David Byrne for fucks sake!" Parody and ridicule are heaped on you when you claim to represent me, and you don't.

Man snob, I hope you fuck over the Un-American Anonymous by checking in with the hipster L Ron Hubbard, Douche Bogue or whatever his name is. How can we let someone from Luxembourg or what have you threatening to de rss the snob?

The hipster has been poisonous to cycling in 3 distinct and crucial ways:

1) Spreading misinformation - no one acts with more confidence in being misinformed than a hipster. If I have to hear one more time about the advantages of bars chopped to hand width or how aerospokes are the lightest wheels on the market...

2) Shifting the marketing focus and public perception of cycling toward a high end fashion event where the silliness of regular cycling marketing is pushed to absurd lengths with limited edition fanny packs designed by some street artist or whatever bullshit.

3) Riding like fucking idiots all over our cities through delusional belief that by going to and from their graphic design job they are actually a bike messenger, thereby leading to anti cycling backlash.

What? Give the hipster a break? No way, call 'em as you see 'em, Sir Snob. Kick 'em in the artisinal pants yabbies. Why? They need a dose of common sense, from the "minimalist" who claims to own nothing while living in a gloriously overpriced flat, and paying the data fees on all those electronic accoutrements, and coffee at $6 a cup. Douches.

Riding my bike to work in Edinburgh, Scotland, I have little idea of hipsters. But, I do get very annoyed at the type of young man who pops up onto the pavement (sidewalk) at every opportunity, to avoid "traffic lights' and 'queues"). So much so that tonight I accidentally cycled 2 miles past my house to continue check up (some people might have called it chasing or stalking, but not me) on the behaviour of a young man I remonstrated with ("hey mate, please don't ride on the pavement - you're making it much harder for all of us" - after his grunt, my chase concluded with "you're an adult, ride on the road"). Anyway I (5'3", 30-something woman) enjoyed catching him up to making him ride a little bit too fast but finally legally, as he tried desperately to lose me, looking over his shoulder ever 100m with a slightly panicked stare (checking if the crazy lady had gone yet...)

Hipsters are funny! Was back in my native heath, Brooklyn NY this past week; the neighborhoods wherein I learned to sprint because otherwise Ida been kilt as a teenager on a bike, are now clogged with artisinsal latte shops...delightful, but annoying too. I have no torch for the bad old days of the 70s, but yes, it is a bit peculiar, this fetishization of bikes (different than my fetishization of course), and everything else that used to be nerdy now beyond cool (chicken raising anyone?).

So Mr Snob, your cultural analysis is welcome and hilarious. Also...all of us in rural 14 land know how to use an axe.

Was anyone else bothered by the statistical mumbo-jumbo in that Gender Gap article? How can almost all of the new bicyclists over the last twenty years be men, but women still do consistently the same percentage of all bicycle road trips? That must mean all those "new" male bicyclists must be very few in number or they barely ever do a road-trip or the dwindling percentage of women bicyclists must be furiously increasing their number of road trips in order to keep up their percentage of total road trips. Something doesn't sound right there.

Bike Snob, I think I passed you today on the Williamsburg Bridge--or at least I hope it was you, because if it wasn't, I sure gave some guy on a Surly Big Dummy a funny look as I was carefully going down the bridge behind a wobbly Beautiful Godzilla.

As for Anonymous saying "more girls on bikes," I heartily agree as I am one of the few who actually commute--through the winter--and don't just use my bike to go two blocks and buy a baguette with my lapdog.

Just to let you know, even here in Madrid, Spain, hipsters are taking over a good part of the cycling scene and posting inane (yeah, not insane, inane) videos that can be found on the emc2011.com/wordpress website.

There's an upcoming European Cycle Messengers Championship that will be here in Madrid where I live. If one of them so much as grazes me on the street--like an over-priced cow on fields of grass--he/she/it will be supplied a punch to the schnozz.

Yes, what's wonderful is how we (amerikkuh) have exported some of the greatest technologies and culture along with all the awful crap. You see kids everywhere from Japan to Italy imitating the trendy Brooklyn hipster fixie look. It's dumb here (I live in williamsburg!) and it's even more stoopider elsewhere. Please, world, be more discerning when digesting our refuse.

Hipster-bashing was funny for a minute, about a decade ago, but now it's just an outlet for out of touch Generation Xers to vent their frustrations at young people for being able to eat, drink, wear, and screw things that the Gen-Xers no longer can.

As a member of Gen-Y (the "Hipster Generation") I grew up looking up to Gen-Xers as cool older cousins. Now you all just seem like grumpy old men; get over it! Young, frivolous people are nothing new. For a reference point, think about the hypocrisy of Baby-Boomers calling you the slacker generation.

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Firefighters are the polar opposite of hipsters in that they are as universally revered and respected in New York City as the hipster is reviled. Therefore, using a firefighter in a pro-cycling video is like using a child as a human shield in a gunfight

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About Me

While I love cycling and embrace it in all its forms, I'm also extremely critical. So I present to you my venting for your amusement and betterment. No offense meant to the critiqued. Always keep riding!